Update

Jaheem Herrera’s Mother Wants School to Pay For Her Son’s Suicide

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The mother of Jaheem Herrera, the 11-year-old Georgia boy who hung himself with a belt after being called gay too many times by classmates, isn’t about to let anyone off the hook. Masika Bermudez plans on suing the hell out of DeKalb County School System, which she claims was well aware of the torment her son endured.

As Bermudez tells it, she repeatedly notified the school that Jaheem was the subject of anti-gay harassment at school, but administrators failed to act. “We will be asking for a substantial amount,” says her attorney Gerald Griggs, who filed “intent to sue” papers that give the district 30 days to respond; he expects the case to move forward.

And what would Bermudez do with all the money she might receive? Give a “significant majority” of it to fund the Jaheem Herrera Foundation, which would, according to Griggs, “set up educational programs that would work to eliminate bullying.”

Meanwhile, last we checked District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming was still deciding whether this case was worthy of criminal prosecution.

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